This FOSS Blogger Hates My Stallman Video

[@MiukuMac]

Someone was offended on the Internet? STOP EVERYTHING! Edit: Oh my, it was Roy. I guess he's given up on trolling and whining about SUSE to move on to other things :D

[@snowthearcticfox1]

I love when people say they want Freedom and then complain when you do something they dont like

[@AnirudhTammireddy]

when the "something" you do is reducing the collective freedom. according to those "people" that complain... making non-free software even being allowed to install is reducing the collective freedom. (wisecrack recently did a good video on the concept if you wanna check it out, it's titled "America's Freedom is a Lie")

[@rkvkydqf]

I think you are misreading the argument. Software freedom is defined as freedom to redistribute, freedom to use, and freedom to modify. The GPL terms do not protect you from being murdered in your sleep by the author after you said something that offended them. An actual example of a self-contraction within this closed system is for instance Hippocratic License, which as far as I can remember preferred to call itself free yet was explicitly built to disallow the uses of the software the author deems unethical. Or LLaMa 2 license, which despite being better than propriety and being in general rather permissive did disallow large companies like say Google from using the model weights. I am aware it's a joke, but I am of a mentality that facts matter, despite us living in a post-truth age. Falsehoods, even satirical, can spread rapidly, risking lim signal/noise -> 0.

[@CptJistuce]

@@rkvkydqf There are forms of freedom other than GPL-licensed software.

[@nyaalilith]

@@rkvkydqf Good news then! For what @snowthearcticfox1 is not a falsehood. As a matter of fact these people, including Stallman himself, contradict the FSF and the words of Stallman. It ain't no falsehood to point this out. You must be familiar with the four software freedoms. Somehow the most basic one of them, "clearly more basic than the other three" according to the GNU website itself, appears to be forgotten here, in the blog post this video talks about, and nearly always when this topic is on the table. Let us now recall, word for word, this "most basic" of freedoms as it appears on the GNU website. And I quote: "The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0)." Using free software to access proprietary software is, in fact, a thing someone may wish to do whilst running free software. Any purpose, if you will. Whether it be for need or for desire. I'd like to hope the FSF may one day remember these their own words, however I ain't holding my breath. But let's not pretend that it's a falsehood to note how they indeed are contradicting themselves.

[@SnakePlissken25]

@@rkvkydqf The Hippocratic license is not a Free license. It's the exact opposite.

[@DavidZetaKrone]

I appreciate the straight up, "I didn't start it but goddamn will I finish it" style at the end there. Good on you mate. My big problem with people like Stallman and his crew is that they utterly eschew the concept of Harm Reduction. You get the sense that they'd rather have people die than be operated on by a hospital using proprietary code.

[@FireStormOOO_]

Ya know people would be a lot easier to operate on if they came with full source and documentation...

[@RockyPixel]

​@@FireStormOOO_ that's why I pray nightly for God to open-source humanity.

[@CentreMetre]

Mfw my digital cooker has closed source code (hungy)

[@haniffaris8917]

​@@RockyPixelNo one stopping you from opening someone up, the source might even be in front of you... or within you.

[@yuvalne]

I'll say exactly what I said last time: Stallman has made great contrubutions to humanity. He should have also retired years ago

[@cameronbosch1213]

I'm not sure if I fully agree with that. Yes, some of his viewpoints _are_ dated in 2023, like with LibreBoot starting to use propietary blobs when there are no other options, GNU/Linux vs Linux, or now this. If people want Linux (and its accompanying GNU Utils) to expand beyond just 3%, we need to be a bit more tolerant of users who may want to use propietary applications or firmware. But at the same time, if RMS wasn't like this, we might have never gotten this far to begin with. And heck, Linus Torvalds may have never started the Linux kernel!

[@StupidusMaximusTheFirst]

Really? So should Linus Torvalds then I guess? Or is he somehow ok or cool enough for IBM to continue?

[@yuvalne]

@@StupidusMaximusTheFirst Linus is still making good and valid contributions. he also knew to step back when that was appropriate. Stallman doesn't.

[@doomjuan]

@@yuvalneyeah he praised valve for evolving linux gaming and meanwhile stallman, would complain about steam being proprietary when gamers wouldn’t care

[@SeanSMST]

Stallman is 70 and seemingly does nothing but moan and complain, torvalds has plenty time before retirement age and makes valid contributions from the back

[@the_linux_legend6199]

If I'm honest it's actually a good thing that these packaging platforms offer these pieces of software because first off, new users are gonna want their proprietary applications and second of all, Linux is about freedom of choice and this gives the user exactly that and what stallman and this person seem to argue is the antithesis of that.

[@ea_naseer]

All things are free but something's are free-rer therefore better for you.

[@hopelessdecoy]

Yeah never understood the you're more free by being unable to use the things you want on your computer argument from the FSF. I really like FOSS but I understand why people make things proprietary and use it when I want or need to.

[@rawrrrer]

Not only for proprietary software, IMO Flatpak is still useful for FOSS because, for example, no matter how free and open my note taking app is, it has no business touching my other files without my permission.

[@Happy_Boner]

Nah, we should ban proprietary software to help in our fight for the freedom of choice.

[@sevenredundent7256]

I think this is akin to wanting people to have the ability to choose anything they want but not wanting them to choose to delete themselves. You can delete yourself if you want to or use proprietary software but I would advise against it, unless it's to get people on FOSS software as a torjan horse for the expansion of software licensed under a GPL type license.

[@mysterynad]

Wait, the Stallmanites actually think the interjection copypasta is a real RMS quote? That's hilarious.

[@knghtbrd]

Debian bent over backwards to appease Stallman. Even going so far as to hide the contrib and non-free parts of the archive. This wasn't deemed free enough for Stallman. I don't work for any corporation. I was a Debian developer. I was there. It wasn't good enough. It resulted in more demands. Stallman wants to control you every bit as much as Microsoft does. Different excuses for why, but the goal is the same: You will do as they say if they can force you to. No thanks, I want ACTUAL software freedom. And yes that means I play a lot of proprietary video games. Mostly 8 and 16 bit ones in an open source emulator that let's me see and edit their code too.

[@mskiptr]

One of Stallman's arguments against proprietary stuff being easily available goes like this: _New users might not yet understand why non-free software is bad. If they don't know the difference and it is available in any official capacity, they might be led to install it without knowing the consequences._ There are several problems with that obviously, but the core idea is correct. Especially when it comes to firmware, we do want to warn users what each option entails. We need to be honest and transparent what impact (not) installing something will have on "freedom" (or rather control), security, usability and so on. Just present the information concisely and let the user choose. But making a distro unusable for some just makes them go elsewhere - where they won't be informed at all. Some free software is better than no free software, and clearly highlighting what is left encourages people to re-implement those parts too.

[@audiolatroushearetic1822]

I'm on Debian for a few month now so thank you for your contribution! Out of interest, because I'm totally clueless when it comes to developement, what handle does Stallman and the FSF have over Debian? Can they revoke licenses, forbid you fom shipping the GNU-utils? I'm a bit baffled by this because I always thought that on Debian (and Arch), that are the places where you are closest to software freedom and furthest away from corporate meddling.

[@dusxmt]

@@audiolatroushearetic1822 Debian was developed specifically with the blessing of the FSF, they even got some initial funding from them, the idea was to create a distribution that would follow the free software principles set out by the FSF / GNU project, in a time when most distros were commercial. Turns out, while the general idea is nice, some of the FSF's stances go against common sense, like their stances on firmware (which, by the way, is not code executed by your CPU (unless we're talking specifically about CPU microcode), but rather by other peripherals, so it's more of a question about interoperability with non-free hardware, and Stallman/FSF has some really weird views on that (apparently non-free hardware okay as long as non-free firmware loading is not a thing - they demand that the firmware be locked onto a ROM chip that users can't update, like on the Librem 5 for the RAM initialization, which is just idiotic)) which, if followed to the letter (as is seen in Trisquel and other linux-libre based distros which remove firmware loading support), would absolutely cripple the system and make it unusable on anything other than very niche hardware. Debian has their own policies that they've developed, the Debian Free Software Guidelines (which in turn have inspired the Open Source Definition), and ironically enough, they consider some GNU things like FDL-licensed documentation with immutable sections as non-free, so you'll find the emacs and gcc documentation in the non-free repo on Debian, together with all of the proprietary software that Stallman despises so much :D Debian is a project that I really love. They took the spirit of free software, applied common sense to it, and created a really great and practical system that I use on my computers, and couldn't be happier with! Compare that with systems that follow FSF's word like a cult: They're broken, unusable, and treat their users as children who need to be protected from the horrors of non-free software, not as adults who get to decide what they want to run on their computers. I value being respected and being given choice, and for that, I value Debian, and I even have monthly donations set up for the project.

[@dusxmt]

Oh, I see that Brodie actually touched up on the firmware issue at 4:32 - as you can see from the simple diagram, the FSF / Stallman advocate for hardware solutions (and slap the "Respects Your Freedom" label onto them) where the user actually has objectively less freedom (but hey, at least they don't need to touch those icky icky firmware files that are so unethical! /s).

[@fun_gussy]

Stallman is gregarious and uncompromising. He puts his principle ahead of everything including how people actually behave, and what they find persuasive. He's also not wrong, and basically everything he warned about has come true or is coming true. Software licenses for seat warmers, never owning or controlling your data or your hardware. There's a lot to criticize about his behavior, and I don't know how to fix anything, but he's been proven right again and again.

[@KingKrouch]

Man these people give me Phoronix forum user vibes. They make Steam forum users and Redditors look informed and civil.

[@CRYPTiCEXiLE]

lol

[@lua-nya]

As a Steam forum user myself, I concur.

[@axelanderson2030]

Tbh I love xentax

[@KingKrouch]

Sorry, I meant Phoronix, although Xentax does have a problem with freeloaders.@@axelanderson2030

[@sonphantrung]

@@axelanderson2030 Are you now on their Discord server?

[@KoopstaKlicca]

I'm not sure if these are the same types of linux users but it's pretty ironic that the community who gets triggered if you install something without reviewing the code/readmes/the manual apparently cannot review if it's proprietary or not

[@ChrispyNut]

Ew, it sounds like you're proposing consistency, rather than convenience. That is not permitted in this day and age. Please escort yourself off this mortal coil and reconsider the atrocity you committed by advocating such!

[@lua-nya]

Actually the copypasta does contain at least one Stallman quote: "GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux". I used to watch video recordings of his talks back then.

[@iFlxy]

Hot take: We are NOT getting the year of the Linux desktop without some proprietary software (if we even get it, ever).

[@linuxization4205]

cold take*** people with brains obviously know this. But some people...

[@AdamDaviesSussex]

So, so true.

[@hopelessdecoy]

100% Welcome proprietary software on Linux, don't push it away but prefer and support open source.

[@SnakePlissken25]

Nobody cares about the "year of the Linux desktop". It was never more than a joke, and it's a non-goal.

[@darsparx]

5:00 THIS!!!!!! This has always been my stance on adopting foss. I like running games on my computers and phones, that immediately makes 100% foss impossible, I'd love for it to be possible but I know it isn't. I will adopt it where I can but there is some places where I understand it isn't such as gaming, codecs, etc 😅

[@bigpod]

Achiviement unlocked: angered old-beards Congratulations, user Brodie Robertson

[@Beryesa.]

Worse than (non-techie!) Apple fanboys ig

[@donaldmickunas8552]

Not all old-beards are the same. I’m 69 years old having used Linux for over 30 years with the last 20 years as my daily driver. I dumped Windows 10. Today, I use Void Linux and FreeBSD. Yet, I recognize that Linux to for everyone. Other OSs are better for certain things or are required for certain jobs. I have told people to stay with Windows or even try an Apple product because they would serve their needs better IMO. Where I differ from some “Old-beards”, is that I don’t shove my tastes and preferences down people’s throats. Please refrain from over generalizing with labels like “old-beards”. They have negative connotations that do not necessarily apply to people like myself.

[@vanpeethovenstudio]

@@donaldmickunas8552Ok boomer.

[@sevenredundent7256]

Stallman being crazy is why I love him, he has such a strong, unwavering opinion about how one should use software that I agree with but see the only way towards it through a compromise of "just let me be on this OS" that will turn into "just use this family of license".

[@BrodieRobertson]

I agree, he's always been there as the absolutist showing how far you can really go

[@orbatos]

​@@BrodieRobertson Let's be real here, this isn't about freedom, it's purity testing. It's something that is a big problem in this space and others which are politically aligned (and yes all of this is literally politics). People in our space tend to get caught up in their own heads, and that's bad. It also leads to some of the worst grifters getting people to listen to them. I commented on your original video, so repeating that is unnecessary, but like you I respect RMS and that he is willing to draw that line.

[@nobodyimportant7804]

A Stallman-approved OS is practically unusable and that is the bottom line. He is right in that all software should be open, but that doesn't mean that he isn't a toenail-eating, pedo-excusing, fascist nutjob.

[@tech34756]

I think if you want to get more people to use Linux, people are going to have to accept that at least some proprietary software will exist and that people will want to use them. Is this ideal from a FOSS perspective? No, but the alternative is Windows and Mac OS.

[@veryCreativeName0001-zv1ir]

linux users (the hardcore ones) the pretty delusional imo , the average user does not care about if your OS is open source or anti-privacy (they care about privacy to some extent but not enough to switch OSes) if linux really wants to beat windows, you need to standardize one format for the whole of linux (not possible of course because distros compete with each other over 2% of users) also in its present state if you want to do any nieche function at some point you need to use the terminal which the avg user cannot be bothered to learn. linux will always be a niche operating system (at least on desktop) the only reason android was a success was because there was one sole company that took up android and set a long term vision which was responsible for marketing and developing the OS , linux is just a bunch of open source devs doing work with no organizational structure (like corporate structure)

[@SnakePlissken25]

@@veryCreativeName0001-zv1ir Nobody cares about "bEaTiNg WiNdOwS". It's a non-goal.It's a thing that simply doesn't matter. There is no reason for it to matter. What matters is Software Freedom. If to "beat windows" we need to standardize and abandon flexibility - that goes against the goal of keeping the software Libre.

[@SnakePlissken25]

"Getting more people to use Linux" is a non-goal. It simply doesn't matter. It's not in competition for a market share. It's not aiming to "bEaT wInDoWs". Getting Free Software more widespread, and helping this by not promoting the use of non-free software is.

[@tech34756]

@@SnakePlissken25 It may not matter to you, but it does to others.

[@UQuark0]

​@@SnakePlissken25nah, it is a goal, since as a Linux user I am tired of being a second-class citizen. The only way to change this is exactly "getting more people onto Linux" and eventually at least "beating MacOS"

[@Settyness]

There's some kind of adage that roughly states in order for there to be moderates, there must be extremes (if someone knows what I'm talking about, please tell me what it is). Richard Stallman sets the uppermost possible limit of the free software ideal so that tech enthusiasts can exist somewhere in between "uncaring normie" and "crazy turbonerd". Without that extreme, then we are all the extreme.

[@nikospatikas2690]

Well, "Flatpak Should Really Have Been Named Fatpack" contains some very good arguments against this flatpaks. If we assign the burden of maintaining the package to the devs, then distros could be less secure. I can see how this long term may harm foss communities and linux platforms.

[@skelebro9999]

I think Brodie Roberted his son a bit too much.

[@kreuner11]

They hate flatpaks because they make the installation of closed source software actually possible. Old school style package management often assumes you can just recompile the app as the dependencies are updated, this don't have to keep any old ones. Steam is an app that also does not fully install by apt, it needs to do it's own thing, and if it were not updated it would fall out of sync with repos and just stop working

[@jfolz]

I'd say less "possible" and more "viable". It's absolutely possible to distribute binaries. Look at Python manylinux wheels as an example. They're compiled against sufficiently old glibc and include all dependencies. So it's possible to do this, but it takes a lot of effort to get it right.

[@bigpod]

Well if proprietary app is statically compiled you dont need to care about dependencies

[@talkysassis]

@@bigpod Repo maintainers refuse to keep static packages even for FOSS programs.

[@talkysassis]

Fedora maintainers even changed Bottles from the static build model to use system libs (and broke the program)

[@solarizedtrippin]

Good. Dynamic linking is fundamental to the distro security model.@@talkysassis

[@TCOphox]

I use Gentoo with Systemd/Arch and Flatpak wherever possible. Firefox, Steam, OBS, Discord, Kdenlive, Blender, even media players and photo viewers are all Flatpaks on my system. Why did I do this? Well because I wanted to see how feasible is it to containerize a lot of the user facing apps I use, and fine tune their access to system resources via KDE's flatpak-kcm configurator. Also because, funni.

[@gracicot42]

Also flathub technically is not equal to flatpak. In that sense flatpak is not in any way promoting non free software, even if flathub would

[@nobodyimportant7804]

It is a technicality that the FSF extremists like to ignore. I am surprised that they don't condem Git because of Github

[@fishsayhelo9872]

"shut up primagen" -> unfathomably based

[@xard64]

The more open the better but unfortunately we might never reach the 100% point over time. However we might get pretty close though the people wanting everything to be absolute argue that it's not good enough and we should throw everything out just because we can't the 100%. Debating with someone with absolute views ends up always in an argument equal of "you shouldn't lock your house door at all because there is a one special person with unique tools who can open the lock without leaving a trace". This happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

[@linuxization4205]

"Microsoft/Windows" caught me off guard

[@Wampa842]

"Freedom, but only on my/our terms" rings a very big historical bell.

[@alembic1105]

What are you on about, that's exactly the world we live in today. That's even what a modern nation is, freedom but only according to the terms of the state.

[@nobodyimportant7804]

@@alembic1105 He perfectly described the FSF

[@fun_gussy]

Disappointing to see Brodie favorite this brain dead inaccurate politicizing.

[@fun_gussy]

@@alembic1105 probably slavery since that's what the type of person to make tenuous tangential political allusions to everything always do.

[@Assenayo]

This was the first time I even heard of "tech rights". In fact I was shocked it's not a parody, like "The Onion for Tech Nerds"

[@BrodieRobertson]

I wish it was The Onion

[@niklasreimer9366]

Flatpaks and Snaps are a great way to package applications in a cross-distro compatible way. Also it eliminated the requirement of a specific library version, so that only version X.Y of a distro is supported. Yes, they are also a distribution platform for proprietary apps. But as you did show, there are ways to inform the user that it is proprietary software. And I'd rather have a flatpak that runs with limited permissions, isolated on user privileges than a deb/rpm/... packaged version that is installed with root permissions can could set up a daemon or do other harmful stuff. I mean Thorium browser is a perfect example that you also shouldn't trust free software without any doubt.

[@SnakePlissken25]

It also allows lazy devs to keep using insecure and outdated libraries.

[@The_Lawnmower_Man]

@@SnakePlissken25 Flatpak's concept of "runtimes" is what I'd describe as coarse-grained dependency tracking (to contrast it with fine-grained dependency tracking as is done by most distro package-managers). And, because of that, Flatpak doesn't suffer from the "application's bundled copy of a library is outdated & insecure"-problem to the same extent as some other ways to distribute software -- such as AppImages or old-fashioned statically-linked binaries -- that require *all or most* of an app's library-dependencies to be bundled together with the app.

[@abdera7mane]

imma ignore the context of both videos and just claim that Brodie is a Flatpak shill and has no issue to use Windows by tomorrow

[@gusvanwes6192]

Great rant :) I think it would be good to include in your video that no one should go and spam Roy. As you're probably also famous enough to have crazy people subscribed. I'm not on the side of the free software absolutists but I do think they fulfill an important role. They might show people how even more software could be free in cases where we take proprietary for granted now. We need people pushing boundaries and we need people bringing people in.

[@BrodieRobertson]

I'll add it to the description I agree and we need those people out there actually making things

[@bastardgoose]

Tricks on you, going to harass him either way.

[@donaldmickunas8552]

Sigh. I love Open Source software. I prefer using open source software. That being said, I tend to avoid extremists. No, I don’t read FSF blog posts nor extremist blogs. I suspect that the author of that blog post has non-free software on one or more devices of his own. I’m not willing to go all the way and neither are the vast majority of people including most free software advocates. My general position is do what makes you happy as long as you don’t hurt others.

[@vextium]

I consider my self a Free Software extremist, but even then, I don't belittle people for not using FOSS, I use a ton of not-FOSS things in my life, like KZbin, for an example, or most video games! What I do though is advocate for FLOSS and create FLOSS.

[@donaldmickunas8552]

@@vextium cool!

[@Kolor-kode]

Woah woah waoh. Woah. You're telling me I have the option to NOT install proprietary code? Nah. We need more people to come at Brodie just so we can get more retorts like this.

[@AlexandruVoda]

As others have said, Stallman should have retired. It is sad to see that he mostly took the FSF with him. Instead of the FSF being a powerful organization litigating GPL violations, promoting free software, campaigning left and right the FSF of today is mostly irrelevant. And that is a loss for all of us. We live in a time with more free software than ever and more parties involved in developing free software than ever but at the same time the free software movement is arguably weaker than ever.

[@usoewin4747]

Problem is, only a few companies like the GPL, most company that do open source, want non-copyleft license. In order to have the FSF been powerful, you need to have company backing it. Or FSF change they stance, and promote non copyleft license more. But there is already organization that do that. I don't know if Stallman is good for FSF, but in order for FSF to be the organization that promote free software and copyleft with no compromise, over open-source, you need someone nuts like Stallman. I'm really under the impression that peoples don't like FSF and Stallman for been this organization that doesn't compromise, but if that were compromising more on proprietary software, FSF would just another OSI, and what's the point ? Also, there is all the problem of the autistic-like behavior from Stallman, that are somewhat not good for marketing FSF, but also create a lot of memes, that are good for marketing it. Would someone more neurotypical at the head of FSF been better for promoting it ? Maybe, but been myself slightly on the neuro-atypical spectrum, I don't trust neurotypical peoples to not betray free software.

[@AlexandruVoda]

@@usoewin4747 I don't think they should have compromised more. I think however that the FSF should have been more like the SF Conservancy busy litigating GPL violations rather than busy certifying 15 year old wifi cards because they have proprietary firmware permanently burned in instead of uploaded by a driver. They should have been a louder and more present voice against SaaS. A louder and more present voice for Right to Repair. A force that coordinates such efforts around the world. A force that organized protests. A force that organized petitions to change the dependence of governmental agencies on proprietary software. The last notable thing the FSF did that I can remember is their DefectiveByDesign campaign against DRM. That was way back in 2006. We needed more of that. Instead, the FSF is just Stallmans personal vehicle who is still preoccupied with people not using the name GNU/Linux. Stallman has foresaw many of the ills of our time yet he is still stuck in the '90 and preoccupied by what was relevant in the '90. This is what makes it so maddening.

[@thirdeyeblind6369]

😂Oh dear my fellow Old-beards are coming for you Brodie all through their own lack of understanding.

[@sam3317]

the thing with old-beards is that, if they'd been listened to in the 80/90's we wouldn't be in this current shithole right now. So it's kind of understandable that they're all cynical and bitter about being ignored and then having their predictions of proprietary hell come true. Just stop falling for le current thing.

[@SnakePlissken25]

@@sam3317 Exactly this.

[@landoc05]

Why is it so hard to get? Flatpacks and Snaps don't give you the source code. Using the now old-fashioned package managers you always had the option to download the source too. Anything that removes the user from the source code is bad.

[@somenameidk5278]

nothing about distro packaging guarantees source code access. ever heard of the proprietary NVIDIA drivers?

[@MeraMadness]

Linux is about freedom of choice, so who give a shit if I prefer to run Proprietary apps or not.

[@alexatkin]

The fact some people want to define "software freedom" as "you are not free to install proprietary software" is such an oxymoron. My system could be 100% FOSS but by definition that's not software freedom if you are preventing me from installing what I want/need. It always fascinates me where some people draw the line, such as the NVIDIA driver. They'd rather have a barely working system or inferior performance than install one more binary, on top of the tons of proprietary firmware they already have to use.

[@untemi0]

8:04 - This concept requires a comprehensive video explanation, as I found it challenging to grasp through the current presentation. It might be a complex topic beyond the immediate comprehension of us, as humans, but with a more detailed visual and auditory exploration, it could enhance our understanding. Thanks for listening, Mr. Boridie.

[@kodingamedev]

It's simple. The blogger is saying that the flatpak and snap repos are invalidated and "insecure" because they also have proprietary software packaged there. Brodie points out that, if you don't want to install proprietary software, you don't install the proprietary software

[@guitarhero01234]

@@kodingamedev I'm having a bit of trouble following. Are you saying that, when I do not install proprietary software, proprietary software will not be installed? Truly a radical concept

[@kodingamedev]

@@guitarhero01234 We live in radical times.

[@untemi0]

@@kodingamedev nah you REALLY didn't get that joke did you 💀 ??

[@RedstoneNinja99]

I'm going to be honest I was today years old when I learned the GNU/Linux copypasta wasnt an actual Stallman quote

[@xwinglover]

me too

[@AndersHass]

Brodie Robertson finally covers content about Brodie Robertson!

[@ratatouillegamer7132]

i think in case of flatpak the FSF can build a own repo, and a free only runtime

[@AnalyticMinded]

The sarcasm is strong with this one! XD

[@thingsiplay]

And correct too. Nothing beats serious sarcasm that is actually correct.

[@bippaasama]

Free Software absolutism is a valid way to do one's own computing if one is so inclined, but what absolutists usually miss is that there are degrees to things. You don't need to run a Librebooted Thinkpad with Trisquel GNU/Linux to be reasonably free as in freedom.

[@maciej-36]

To be honest Stallman and his cronies are so off-putting that if they had their way I wouldn't want to use free software at all. I'm glad he's not relevant anymore.

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

Wait, why were they watching your video in the first place? Doesn't KZbin make you load proprietary javascript code in order to even watch the video? BLASPHEMY!!!!

[@TILR]

So you are telling me I don't have to install everything from every Repo or Store I go to??? :O my mind has been BLOWN

[@vaxryy]

Maybe I should write a blogpost about brodie? Though maybe to be different from all the blog coverage you've been recently getting, I should write a positive one, for once.

[@xmvziron]

13:17 Funny you mention Asahi Linux. As a daily driver of Asahi, and now Fedora Asahi Remix even before the official release, you mentioned the GPU drivers needing a lot of work. That might be true, in the context of Vulkan support, but for everything else they work fantastically! We're up to OpenGL 3.3, which *most* applications should support. I can even play Minecraft really smoothly!

[@Jmvars]

Is he arguing that because I can download proprietary software via flatpak, and because it show some icons for proprietary software in their website, it must then be considered non-free? By that logic using a computer is non-free because I can install Windows on it.

[@solarizedtrippin]

No, the argument is that the flathub repo serves and promotes proprietary software. This is a problem, as the goal of free software advocates is oftentimes to use only free software.

[@kaqqao]

Oh wow, two adults using their platforms to b¡tch at each other in public. Quality content.

[@BannedEvECharacter]

Hold on Brodie, hold on, this popcorn needs 1 more minute! Can't wait some ignorance shutdowns!

[@crayzeape2230]

I specifically searched the comment section for "popcorn". Looks like you beat me to it, but I'm still sitting by with the popcorn. ;)

[@4ngeldus739]

99% of people who mention cancel culture in any way don't actually understand how cancelling people works. Someone like Richard Stallman can't be cancelled unless he says something truly horrible and even then if someone gives him a platform then he wont be cancelled

[@jasamkrava]

Bro is AI, he hallucinates stuff

[@alexanderstreng4265]

Never heard of the site but now I want to see a podcast episode you with Roy xD

[@emisunflowers]

The funny thing is that flatpaks dont encourage you to use proprietary software at all. It just provides the option. Gnome software, discover, and flathub website all say whether the program is proprietary. Whether the user chooses to download something proprietary is on them. I don't believe there is more freedom in taking away the option for users to use proprietary software. Moreover, flathub and flatpak wouldn't be nearly as useful if they didn't make it easy to install things like discord and keep them at least somewhat containerized and easy to maintain.

[@jfolz]

I'm confused. Where's the rest of the post? That was little more than an intro.

[@swagmuffin9000]

the part of not installing things you don't want blew my mind. seriously the best tech tip i've ever heard. seriously tho, it's funny some people need this reminder sometimes

[@t1m3f0x]

Here's my question for Stallman, Would you rather install proprietary software on your computer, Or deal with a small child screaming their head off throwing a temper tantrum because they want to play a video game, but can't because you won't install proprietary software on your computer?

[@Adiee5Priv]

The answer is simple - install super tux kart

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

You have to reword this so "proprietary software" are the last 2 words. His brain shuts off when he sees it, so he can't read your question the way you wrote it.

[@ewomer100]

Stallman wasn't always free software only, there was a time he enjoyed using closed source software, the problem came when he wanted to fix the software but the company didn't want to let him. Thats when he started turning sour on closed source proprietary software. His original message got lost somewhere where it wasn't only free but it was open source software that he started to promote, the free came later and ended up taking on a life of its own. Specifically on the predatory GPL licensing.

[@AlexandruVoda]

None of what you've written is true.

[@ewomer100]

@@AlexandruVodaYou calling Stallman a liar?

[@AlexandruVoda]

@@ewomer100 I am saying YOU are grossly misrepresenting Stallman and misrepresenting the history of free software and of open source.

[@ewomer100]

@@AlexandruVodaBy going by what Stallman said?

[@grubbermeister]

Dammit, Brodie. Stop being a big bully!

[@michaelk.17]

[insert Simpsons "Stop, stop, he's already dead" meme here]

[@komododragon6126]

Wonder what the scope is for adding people to Wikipedia?

[@SquidLight]

Not directly related to your attack. I am a software developer by profession. I like the ideas of free software, but I think that to say closed source is evil is simply crazy. If I was to release open source software I wouldn't use GPL, maybe MIT or Apache 2 licences, in the real world I feel that GPL is too restrictive. If I write code I feel that its perfectly fine to choose the licence that suits you be it copy left, propriety, or open source. I will go further than you and say that I think Stallman's hard line attitude is actively harmful. Let the flame wars begin.

[@TotallyFred]

I wasn’t even remotely interested in flatpak, but now I am. When haters hate, it’s got to be good.

[@marcusmeaney]

soydev: "if you've got a flatpak on your system, you might as well only use iphones". give this man the olympics gold medal for stretches

[@MyurrDurr]

Never even knew this website existed... and I still will not go to it because it feels like its full of hyper-obsessed fanboy mentality

[@comesignotus9888]

Despite all the good GNU stuff, including GPL, Stallman himself IS an asshole. And its OK to be mean to him. Being so hypocritical as to ask someone with a browser to look for something in the Internet for him, because, ya know, he doesn't even look on non-free software. Telling a laptop with an open bios not good enough because it doesn't forbid you installing a non-free bios. Promoting absolutely libre systems in a way that makes them absolutely useless IRL.

[@VioletRM]

Id much rather have people use crappy proprietary programs on a libre OS than on a proprietary one, even if I think proprietary software is bad

[@Mithferion]

I can't believe Software from the repos, that I don't have in my system, is not installed if I don't install it in the first place

[@jogurtnaturalny]

How did you call thePrimemegen? ??

[@Workaholic42]

Absolutism doesn't lead to people laughing at you - it leads to war.

[@mundotazo]

I wold rather have the proprietary apps that I need for work sandboxed so I can control their access better. Is that dude writing the tech rights blog in html on a librebooted x200? I wish folks would realize that Stallman is neordivergent and not pay so much attention to him. The poor guy got cancelled at MIT and now has cancer. You could talk to the FSFE for commentary on software policy.

[@cameronbosch1213]

With all due respect to the first sentence you said, which I 100% agree with, the rest of your comment is kind of rude. 1. If people aren't "neurodivergent", then they wouldn't change the world. People who are different are often the ones who change things. 2. I do wish Stallman well with his cancer diagnosis.

[@SSquirrel1976]

I think the delusions about people being controlled remotely by Apple should say enough about their grip on reality as it is. Completely stupid.

[@Your_Degenerate]

Magical girl blast dinosaurs back into the Stone Age while performing dance moves. That's an interesting concept.

[@BrodieRobertson]

The Atelier series is all about alchemy so most of the time you're just throwing shit together together and it magically turns into something else. Often times a bomb

[@dexterman6361]

It's almost funny how Apple devices are - when properly configured with Asahi - more secure than many other systems out of the box. I hate how the SSD is soldered on since the same security can be achieved with replaceable ones, but the point is, it's a banger option these days, if not for the alpha-ish hardware support for more daily-driver things

[@luisjavieravilaolivera2471]

Hi brodie, great video as always. Have you seen the news about the removal of RNDIS in linux 6.7? am I understanding something wrong or does this means that in linux 6.7 usb tethering will stop working in linux?

[@kdcadet]

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, what does absolute freedom do? Also, Sir Terry Pratchet has some great things to say about absolute freedom.

[@jirivegner3711]

What book?

[@arthurdent8086]

One man, one vote? Lord Vetinari? No, that's probably not right. You got my curiosity now

[@khhnator]

the random primagen caugh me offguard lol

[@idk-sy3iu]

FSF when firmware: proprietary! Proprietary! FSF when firmware is on the hardware itself and you can't update it, reverse-engineer it: absolutely perfect

[@etherweb6796]

Lol, congrats - you are now among the special many that techrights has gone after. This guy is a master of convincing himself that people say things they don't.

[@MarkParkTech]

I watch you, specifically, because even when I disagree with your facts ( stuff beyond a philosophical level ) at least 9/10 - it's not that you're wrong, it's that I've either been misinformed, or things have changed since I last look at it. This guy attacking you, never heard of him, but I'm not going to waste my time on a blog poster that doesn't even have the consideration to provide evidence or examples to back up their claims.

[@liquidmagma0]

3:42 "this blogspam" got a good wheeze out of me, what a roast!

[@romanstingler435]

Wait a moment, I will make a video stating that Brodie didn't say that Penguins can't fly. How dare you :P

[@flintfrommother3gaming]

NEVER FORGET, this guy ate his foot flakes infront of an audience. NEVER. FORGET.

[@parsanobahari6089]

I think this guy is an absolutist but when you said: "I would not be using linux if I couldn't game" this is what I would have said: "I would not play games if I couldn't on linux." that's just me though We have to find our disagreements and preferences and respect them at the end. being absolutist does not help.

[@donaldmickunas8552]

I don’t care if someone is an absolutist personally as long as it isn’t pushed on me.

[@AnirudhTammireddy]

next step would be "I would not play games unless it's non-non-free" that's just me though. being absolutist may not help the current situation. It DOES bring awareness.

[@bitterblitter]

Foss absolutists lost all credibility years ago...FSF has forgotten "software freedom" starts with choice, something they seem to insist the user shouldn't have.

[@AnirudhTammireddy]

@@anon8510 you can only come to that conclusion if you can think. can't tell most smokers smoking is bad for them without making them mad.

[@CRYPTiCEXiLE]

Been using GNU/Linux since the very late 90s mainly early 2000 and I never heard of a website call Tech Rights to be fully honest. I also do use some non free software, but for the most part I use a lot of "Open" source software and "free" software in the mix. Now I fully agreed with you on if GNU/Linux didn't had all the gaming support it has now, I probably be on Windows at least on the machine I use to play games on, but since now gaming on GNU/Linux is better with steam and proton, I only use GNU/Linux only and the distro I use is Arch btw and yeah i'm very happy with my setup. I may not be a "Real" arch linux user because I don't use a tiling WM, but honestly i'm still happy using it.

[@jagagemo8141]

I can't believe people read People magazine and their like when you can get all your drama in the FOSS space and it actually matters in your life and future 😂.

[@medinachete73]

That proprietary package could be installed as a dependency if you are not caring enought. So, not pointing to that repository can be total safety, in this case.

[@solarizedtrippin]

Your point about just don't install non-free software is weak.On Debian it's possible for my repo to only points to free software, this means it can not be installed even inadvertently. With Flatpak, it is of course possible to install non-free software inadvertently that is not possible with traditional distribution repos. By the time the non-free software is installed the damage is already done.

[@BrodieRobertson]

It's usually a good idea to pay attention to which packages you're installing and know what they contain

[@solarizedtrippin]

Of course that’s true, yet I have relatively strong confidence that anything in the Debian repos is compliant with the Debian Free Software Guidelines. This is an honest problem with Flatpak and Snap. Perhaps a Flatpak runtime accidentally has proprietary code inserted, yet when I complain to Flatpak they say it’s no problem, they allow proprietary software. Free software is fundamental to why Linux is great.

[@byronservies4043]

Having been around in the 80's, it is my opinion that we are nowhere near mean enough to that jackass.

[@victornecromancer]

I also wouldn't be on linux if i wasn't able to play games in it

[@arielalejandro6900]

Well done Brodie, I do share your point of view.

[@lekemp]

I'm with you Brodie. Don't worry about these FOSS absolutists.

[@trajectoryunown]

FOSS is great, and I prefer FOSS software whenever feasible. I'd gladly take a minor hit to performance or productivity to use and spread awareness about a FOSS application. I look forward to RISC-V development with eager anticipation. One day, I hope to run a desktop environment that's entirely FOSS, only housing applications that are FOSS, on hardware that's FOSS, and interacting with it using peripherals that are FOSS. HOWEVER! If I want to game or if I need to use a proprietary application to achieve some end, I'll do that. Ultimately, the _freedom to choose_ is best. I could go on for hours about IP laws, copyrights, trademarks, and why I believe ALL of that nonsense should be abolished. I could rant and rave about how I feel not only software, but ALL works of art, every idea should be free and open source, that we should all be freely able to lift and implement or modify any idea, but that's not the world we live in right now. Never stop pushing towards what you believe to be ideal, but don't overlook the good in that which is less than. That's how you burn bridges and kill progress. That's how fights get started between people who ultimately share very similar perspectives.

[@zzco]

This was wonderfully amusing! XD

[@TrippSC2]

As much as FOSS zealots try to ignore it, some (honest) software businesses could not be profitable without keeping their source closed. Gaming in particular comes to mind. It is extremely hard to turn a profit with a FOSS project. It is also extremely difficult to turn a profit with a proprietary indie game. Any attempt at a FOSS video game as an indie business seems like a doomed prospect (assuming a novel monetization strategy isn't devised).

[@solarizedtrippin]

The monetization strategy is not novel and it’s already been done. Charge money for the art assets while releasing the code as GPL. There are problems with this approach of course, but it has worked. The main reason games are not FOSS are because the users of the games program do not value FOSS.

[@TrippSC2]

@@solarizedtrippin Is there an example of a game that has done that and been profitable? To me, it seems like a big financial risk in the games industry, which is already risky. I'd love it as a gamer and someone who dabbles in game development. Think of the modding potential when no source code is obscured, not to mention the ease of fixing bugs when you can receive pull requests from the community.

[@solarizedtrippin]

Yes, it's clear the benefit, but most gamers are not technical types who would care. There is a wikipedia article "list of open-source video games" the one with model I described are under the section "non-free data". The most famous example of this is Doom, but I do not know of any major games that have followed this for exactly the reason you said. @@TrippSC2

[@zeocamo]

Yet another don't start a fight with Brodie, you may start it but Brodie is the one ending it.

[@schemage2210]

I mean, if you were to argue that KZbin is software delivered via a webpage over the internet, it would seem that Roy is more than happy to use non-free software. Nothing about KZbin fits the FOSS ethos, so he shouldn't have seen that video so promptly to complain about on his own blog......

[@RogueRen]

Brodie going for the throat on this one

[@sbrazenor2]

The truth about Stallman is that he's the software version of an extremist that everyone claims doesn't exist. If it was up to him we would all live in Emacs 24/7, coding would be taught from preschool onwards, and non-free spftware authors would be in prison. 🤣

[@mskiptr]

Emacs is the ultimate suckless software tho

[@altrogeruvah]

With all due respect, writing a diatribe in HTML right after someone else's opinion is the most 'Stallman fan' thing ever, and no, that's not doing him any favors